by H. Bishop Holliman 2011
Below, Virginia Holliman Cornelius, Mary Daly Herrin, Vena Holliman Daly, Robert W. Daly, Sr. and H. Bishop Holliman at Fort Walden, Florida, 1934. Stewart Button must have taken the picture.
"I have never known why Vena and Robert felt it appropriate to take me along on their trip to Florida in 1934, the first of my 'three Golden Summers'. I can understand why they took Virginia along - Mary was just three years old, so Virginia was needed to baby sit her. But there was no earthly reason why they let me tag along, except out of the goodness of their hearts. Also, Mr. Button was included in this, the first of their many escapades to Florida. I don't recall any conversations that led up to the decision to take me with them.
Almost 5 million Model A Fords were built between 1927 and 1931. As Henry Ford said, one could have it in any color one wanted, as long as it was black! This is a plush model. The 1934 Daly car was more prosaic! GNH
We left Irondale, Alabama on a Monday morning in July at about 3 am, riding in the Model A Ford. I have always remembered how exciting it was to be awakened that early and to head off to Florida, the first time I was to be out of Alabama and to view the ocean. So six of us - three adults, two young teenagers and one three year old - were stacked in the two door car. Our suit cases were slung over the hood on each side and may have even been tied to the fender opposite the driver's side. Remember...there was no such thing as air conditioning, no radio and no trunk to store luggage. Only two-lane roads, no fancy rest stops and very few eating places along the way. By today's standards it was murder! But we did not know any better. We were headed to Florida, and besides, gas was no more than 20 cents a gallon.
Our first stop was in Clanton, Alabama where we had breakfast at the Dixie Cafe on the main street. The cost was $2.50 for the six of us....ham and eggs and all the trimmings. I guess Robert paid for Mr. Button's share. Virginia and I had no money at all. I thought the price of our meal was astronomical, and I recall writing back home and telling Mama and Daddy how much we had already spent. We stopped in Dothan, Alabama to visit a Daly cousin, and we may have had lunch there.
I remember Virginia and I always wanting to visit places we had read about in our Alabama geography and history books, but the adults did not cotton to that idea so we never stopped. Our goal was to reach Panama City. We may have spent the night at a 'tourist court', reaching the ocean the next day; I am not sure now.
Whatever the day was, I remember how 'awed' I was when I first cast my eyes on the huge body of water that was Panama City Bay. I guess I had seen Lake Purdy, but it was not like that at all! The next day, I was even more 'awed', when we reached the beach at Fort Walton, Florida, a fairly new resort west toward Pensacola. There we settled for the next twelve days in a one-bath cabin, an oil cook stove, no radio. Air conditioning had not been heard of nor television. There were no near-by eating places, no movie houses nor other entertainment. But we were in Florida, and the beach was a couple of miles away, over the bridge that connected the town to the beach, and we thought it was pretty nice."
Next posting, more amazing adventures of a small town American family in the 1930s....
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